The mist is cleared, secrets of Nemesis
by Exalted Nemesis
Summary: Jill, Carlos and the others are sent into unfamiliar territory by the mysterious Mr Trent. There is something however that will force a change in one of group members that will alter them forever. Rated M for violence and gore.


**Glass Hearts: The mist is cleared, secrets of Nemesis**

A month to the day Alyssa and Nemesis had escaped the facility at Bluewater and both had never felt happier. But there were clouds dwelling on the horizon for Alyssa, twice she'd encountered the deadly Alice and escaped with a few minor scratches. Although she'd tried to forget about what Alice had said in those tunnels at Cardwell part of what was said could be the truth.

_I can't think like that_ Alyssa thought _Jill and Carlos would never trade Nemesis and I to some news station for media purposes_. But the thoughts still lingered in her head whenever seeing Jill or Carlos send off emails to the other rebels.

Nemesis on the other hand though still having trouble understanding why Jill was so distant from him enjoyed the combat practice sessions with Carlos. Both of them had started to develop a friendship that overlooked the entire factor that Nemesis was an eight-foot tall genetic monster. It wasn't this that puzzled Alyssa as she knew where Nemesis went but it was the early morning walks he took into the woods by himself.

Alyssa had seen Nemesis go several times from the patio where he sat all night and slowly lumber off into the surrounding bushland. It would happen just as the sun began to rise over the land. He would reappear at around seven o'clock before the others began to stir and sit back down in the large wooden stump chair.

It was a thought that had plagued her mind for a few weeks now; nothing much had happened with the group only a few false alarms that didn't mean much. So intense was Alyssa in thought that she didn't see Jill click her fingers at her.

"Wake up Alyssa the boat is sailing" Jill said.

As Alyssa glanced up in confusion it made Carlos laugh, "Whoa it looks like you missed more then the boat"

"Something the matter Alyssa?" Jill asked.

Alyssa hesitated, she could say that there wasn't anything wrong but that would be lying and besides Jill and Carlos were her friends she couldn't lie to them. She took a deep breath before speaking, "Promise you won't react to what I'm about to say"

By now both Jill and Carlos were sitting down at the table staring back at Alyssa with serious expressions on their faces.

"Whatever it is Alyssa we promise not to do anything irrational," Jill replied.

"Unless it's serious like we're going to grow another arm or something like that," Carlos remarked.

"Ok, well it's been happening for a few weeks now, ever since we got back from Cardwell. Nemesis doesn't sit on the patio all night anymore, in the morning he disappears then comes back when we're all getting up," Alyssa said in a serious tone. "I think he's taking more then a stroll through the bushland"

It was Jill's turn to laugh, she almost fell off the chair, "Oh Alyssa is that all it was? I thought it was something serious"

Alyssa couldn't believe the reaction she was getting, Jill was shaking with laughter while Carlos was grinning like a circus clown.

"But I've seen him walk off, surely you've noticed too!" Alyssa cried out. "I'm really worried about this, it could mean something serious"

After Jill and Carlos calmed down Jill turned towards Alyssa, "We know what you mean I saw Nemesis walk across the field a few days ago I'd had…" she hesitated, Jill didn't exactly want to admit to Alyssa that because of Nemesis her nightmares of Racoon were coming back thick and fast. "I woke up with a stomachache and went to get a glass of water, normally you can see through the screen door where Nemesis is but when he wasn't there I went outside. Both his weapons were near the door and I saw across from the cabin Nemesis disappear into the bush"

"I say let him go, it must be hard for Nemesis to be around people all the time, he must take walks to clear his head" Carlos replied.

Alyssa frowned, "Still it doesn't seem right, I'd really like to know where he goes"

"Sorry Carlos but Alyssa's right, as much I'd hate to admit it I'm a little curious as to where Nemesis disappears off to every morning as well" Jill said nodding.

Carlos leaned back in his chair and folded his arms, "Well I'm not, Nemesis and I we're amigos and if we want to keep secrets then so be it"

"Well that's good then Carlos, seeming as the two of you are such great friends you'd have no problem following Nemesis tomorrow" Jill remarked slyly.

Hearing this Carlos almost fell out of his chair, "You want me to do what?!?"

"Keep your voice down Nemesis has really good hearing" Alyssa said softly.

Carlos muttered something in Spanish before speaking, "The things I have to go through, what if it's nothing?"

"Then that's what it will be, nothing" Jill replied.

In a way Carlos had been right, being around people constantly clouded Nemesis's judgment, he needed space to think the 'bad' thoughts that Griffin would normally hurt him for thinking. Thoughts about who he once was before becoming a monster and mostly about what the future held for him and Alyssa.

Since meeting with Deception, Nemesis had seen him as the closet thing to being his own kind. Not that Deception had been born into a world of pain, with bright lights shinning down into his eyes and men in white coats standing beside the table he was strapped to.

Deception did not trust the rebels, he believed that they were partly to blame for who he was yet took an instant liking to Nemesis because although he resembled a human fought with the strength of a warrior. It was because of the extraordinary strength that Nemesis possessed that Deception agreed to mock fights every morning before the others awoke.

The 'training sessions' weren't so much for Deception, during the sessions Nemesis didn't need to hold back on his abilities. He was able to use the full potential of his strength and not worry about making a scaly placemat out of Deception. It was also necessary for Nemesis to practice with Deception as although the majority of enemies were human, a medium sized portion were creatures made by Umbrella, monsters just like him.

As the sun started to rise dissolving the night Nemesis knew it was time to leave for the forest. Before leaving the giant walked around to the back of the cabin and peered through a small mesh window.

Seeing the sleeping form of Alyssa lying in bed Nemesis turned and strode past the cabin and out onto the dewy field.

Checking Alyssa before he left had become a habit for Nemesis, although he knew that Alyssa would always be in bed asleep it was just a confirmation for his mind. He had made a promise a long time ago to watch over her and would keep his word.

Before leaving Nemesis placed the large chain gun and rocket launcher near the door and walked off the patio trying not to make a sound on the creaking wooden floor.

Getting to the edge of the forest Nemesis saw that Deception was already leaning against a tree waiting.

Seeing Nemesis approach Deception grunted and turned his back on the giant and began to walk into the surrounding bushland.

Deception carried respect for Nemesis, he had come from a testing place as well and fought against those that worked there. It made sense to befriend a creature such as Nemesis not because of the fact that he was stronger but also because he too had much to teach the Hunter.

Carlos didn't like the fact that he was spying on a friend but what he couldn't stand was having to get up so early. He'd only gotten used to sleeping in to at least six thirty but having to get up at four was too much.

_All because everyone's paranoid_ Carlos thought as he pulled on a light brown shirt. He was surprised that Alyssa had okayed the spying on Nemesis normally she would be very upset if such a thing was mentioned.

Locating a pair of army fatigue pants Carlos quickly slipped into them and as he walked out of the doorway to his bedroom almost crashed into Jill.

"Geez what are you doing up?" Carlos asked.

Jill seemed offended by the remarked and folded her arms, "I live here too, in fact this place is in my name, well an alias of mine but still in my name"

"Alyssa's still asleep then?"

"Yeah I let her sleep, it makes no sense in getting Alyssa up" Jill replied.

Carlos still felt uneasy, "So you really want me to do this?"

"Not so loud ok? Nemesis is still out there"

Both crept up to the table and could see that the giant was still seated in the large wooden chair with his two weapons in easy reach beside him.

"In a few more minutes Nemesis will get up and place the weapons by the door and walk around the back of the cabin" Jill said.

"How do you know that?"

"I've been up early enough to catch him it's really strange the fact that Nemesis will walk around the side of the cabin then turn around and walk back"

"Maybe he's getting warm up practice" Carlos joked. "Hey for all we know Nemesis might climb one of those hills every morning and doesn't want us to know"

Jill smiled, "Yeah that'd be an interesting sight I can just see Nemesis with a rope tied around his middle climbing up a hill side"

A dull clanking beside the door made Jill and Carlos both fall silent as they saw a large black shadow pass by.

Carlos went to get up but Jill grabbed him by the arm he turned towards her, "What? Ok I get it you don't want to see me leave and you're begging me to stay?"

Jill's response was a blank face and a sarcastic remark, "Keep on dreaming, what I meant to say is that wait until Nemesis comes around the front again, if you go now then he'll see you"

"That's another question I've been meaning to ask what will happen if Nemesis sees I'm following him? He probably won't be too happy" Carlos asked.

Seeing the black shadow pass by the door a second time Jill pushed Carlos forward, "Ok now you can go, just try not to be seen"

"Great, I'll try and not get spotted by a monster that probably has better hearing and sight then me" Carlos grumbled as he walked towards the door.

Turning the door knob and carefully opening the door Carlos almost tripped over the rocket launcher, it almost seemed that Nemesis had purposely placed the weapon there so that a pursuer would fall over.

Shaking the thought off Carlos scanned the field, keeping a close eye on Nemesis in the distance. Realizing that the open field had no places to hide behind should Nemesis look back Carlos had no choice but to go into the surrounding bushland near the cabin.

Carlos didn't need to follow Nemesis for long as the giant stopped at the edge of the bushland not far from where he was.

Standing patiently against a large blue gum was Deception who nodded towards Nemesis as he approached. The pair then turned and entered the bushland flicking aside branches that got in their way.

By now Carlos was puzzled, what did Nemesis and Deception do every morning in the surrounding bushland? It crossed Carlos's mind for a brief moment that the pair of monsters went off to kill innocent civilians, then he shook it off. Deception looked capable of killing anyone no matter if they deserved it or not but Nemesis would only harm others if he was forced to.

Waiting for a few more minutes Carlos then started to follow the monsters again, "Ok padre let's see what you get up to"

Still keeping a safe distance Carlos almost lost track of the pair but glancing down at the ground he could see two sets of prints, one was dinosaur like with clawed talons and another were boot prints from very large shoes.

Hearing a roar from up ahead Carlos crept closer and hid behind an old termite mound.

In a small clearing Deception stood on one side roaring and on the other side stood Nemesis standing still and clenching his fists.

Deception suddenly shot forward so did Nemesis, the Hunter raised his right arm but it was blocked by Nemesis who shoved the smaller monster aside.

Landing on the ground on all fours Deception jumped back up and came at the side again this was dodged by Nemesis who attempted to grab Deception but failed.

Carlos watched the two creatures fight with interest and amusement, this was the reason why Nemesis snuck off in the early hours it wasn't to harm anyone it was to train with Deception. _Well that explains why Nemesis is so good at beating me_ Carlos thought _he has Deception to practice with_.

Carlos could understand why Nemesis did this, when practicing with Carlos he had to hold back on his strength but when with Deception, Nemesis could do what he wanted.

Turning back to the pair Carlos watched as Deception took a lethal swipe at Nemesis, the giant simply ducked underneath the razor claw and grabbed a hold of the Hunter's out stretched arm. Nemesis then flipped Deception over onto the ground and placed his right foot on top of the Hunter's upper torso while his razor sharp tentacles suddenly appeared from underneath the black outfit he wore.

For a second it looked like Nemesis would crush or impale Deception but the Hunter wriggled free and bounded away from the lashing tentacles of Nemesis.

Now it was Deception's turn to do damage, circling Nemesis the Hunter suddenly darted forward and grabbed one of the large tentacles with his talons. Sensing his mistake Nemesis tried to shake Deception off and retract his tentacles but the Hunter refused to let go.

Carlos was so enthralled by the a few feet away that he didn't realize his entire hand was being covered in termites from the 'abandoned mound' Too late did Carlos see that the termites thought he was a threat and began to bite down hard on his hand with their pinchers. The pain of over thirty small bites coursed through Carlos's hand and through his body causing him to cry out and step back from the mound while shaking his hand.

Both Nemesis and Deception had stopped their practice to see that a few metres away was Carlos shouting out in Spanish while brushing the termites off his hand.

Anger wasn't the feeling that Nemesis felt it was more of teach-him-a-lesson emotion.

Deception was ready to shoot forward but Nemesis barred the way with his arm, the gesture was simple: Leave him to me I'll teach him a lesson.

Nemesis cried out causing Carlos to look up and grin sheepishly.

"It's not what it looks like amigo, it was Jill and Alyssa they wanted me to come out here and spy on you and Deception" Carlos replied. "Friends forgive right?"

Again Nemesis roared and started to run towards Carlos with Deception following close behind.

Carlos only turned and sprinted through the bushland, arms pumping wildly swearing in a mixture English and Spanish, "Oh shit, I knew this was a bad idea, that's the last time I listen to Jill, next time she's on her own!"

After Carlos had left Jill couldn't get back to sleep, either it was worry about where Carlos was or the various other thoughts that currently resided in her head. Because the only thing to sit on the patio was the large wooden chair that Nemesis normally sat in during the night Jill had no choice but to sit in it too. Not that sitting in the chair would make any difference it was a wooden seat. _That just happens to be the main chair for a large and dangerous monster_ Jill thought to herself.

She then shook her head _Stop it! Past is past, Nemesis isn't a killer he'd never harm anyone unless they hurt him in fact he has a humble nature above anything else_.

Jill then smiled and sat back against the wooden chair, humble was a word that she'd never have used to describe that monster that chased her through Racoon but this Nemesis was different.

"A humble giant" Jill said to herself.

Hearing the screen door creak open Jill turned to see Alyssa slowly walk out rubbing her eyes.

"You're up early" Jill commented.

Alyssa nodded while yawning, "I heard Carlos leave a while ago and couldn't get back to sleep" she then glanced around the patio with a hint of worry on her face. "Speaking of which where is Carlos and Nemesis?"

Before Jill could reply she heard her name being called and Alyssa looked up towards the sound and pointed out across the field, "Here they come and it looks like Carlos is having a race with Nemesis?"

Jill got up from the chair and stared out across the field, sure enough Carlos was sprinting for all his worth while behind him Nemesis was slowly catching up to him roaring loudly.

As Carlos got closer his voice became clearer, "Get out of the way, he's gone loco! I'll be a pancake in a few seconds"

Both Jill and Alyssa stepped inside as Carlos barrelled up the cabin's stairs, pulled open the screen door and ran inside shouting, "It's all your fault Jill you made me follow Nemesis and he saw me!"

Instead of pursuing Carlos up the stairs Nemesis skidded to a stop in front of the cabin.

Jill was still confused by the whole ordeal but Alyssa was trying to stop herself from laughing.

"What was that…?" Jill then turned towards Nemesis who had now calmed down. "You just can't chase Carlos across a field like that! What's the big idea we're not your enemies!"

Nemesis only snorted and turned his back on Jill while folding his arms.

It was then Alyssa shook her head while smiling, "It happened again"

Jill turned towards Alyssa, "What happened? Nemesis charging across the field after Carlos in plain sight is a pretty new thing to me"

"Nemesis wanted to teach Carlos a lesson, he didn't like the fact that Carlos was spying on him so Nemesis chased him" Alyssa explained. "Although Nemesis can't say much I can tell from his body language what happened, it was the same back at Bluewater. A guard tried to separate both of us, he did it time after time until finally Nemesis pushed him into a cage and shut the door, he was only trying to show how bad it felt when you're put in a strange place without your permission"

By now Nemesis had turned around and was listening to Alyssa, Jill only glared back at the monster.

"Still it's not right that Carlos be scared half to death over a joke" Jill replied. _Great now we have a humorous monster what will Umbrella think of next, zombies in tutus? _

"It's the truth," Alyssa said. "Don't be mad at Nemesis, he has a strange way of thinking through things he won't do it again"

Jill sighed, she really wasn't mad at the monster only glad that the pursuit was simply a lesson and that no injuries were caused by it. Gesturing towards the door Jill smiled, "Come on then hopefully Carlos will be able to give us some answers" then she faced Nemesis looking straight into his green eyes, "And you stay here I don't want any more chases got that?"

Just as before when Jill spoke directly to the creature Nemesis replied in a deep wavering growl that sounded like a 'yes' and walked up the stairs towards his chair. Although Jill could tell that the monster was slightly angry at having being followed by someone he thought he could trust, Nemesis knew that starting another round of argument up with Jill was unwise.

Going inside Carlos looked up with a mix of worry and fear on his face, "Nemesis isn't going to smash that door down and attack me is he?"

Both Jill and Alyssa sat down at the small table where Carlos was.

"No he isn't going to do anything like that" Jill replied as she glanced out towards the door. "Hopefully"

"What did you see?" Alyssa asked.

"I was almost beaten to a pulp by a mutant creature and you want to know what Nemesis was up to? What about me?" Carlos said sounding hurt.

"I'm worried about Nemesis, where he goes of a morning" Alyssa replied.

Carlos sighed, "Sure worry about the monster and not me"

When realizing that he was going nowhere with his plight Carlos continued, "Nemesis doesn't do anything harmful out in the woods, he trains with Deception"

"The Hunter?" Jill asked.

"No another Hunter that looks exactly like Deception" Carlos replied sarcastically. "Of course it's Deception"

"That's not what I meant," Jill said as she leaned back in her chair. "I was under the assumption that Deception wanted nothing to do with any of us"

"Well that's not the case with Nemesis, those two were fighting each other as though their lives depended on it. It was like watching two soldiers practice their hand to hand combat moves, both learning from the other"

Alyssa relaxed when hearing this, "Well I'm glad that's sorted out but why does Nemesis train with Deception when he trains with you Carlos?"

Carlos shrugged, "Maybe Nemesis assumes that he really can't use his abilities to their full potential when with me but with Deception he can, they're both built tougher then a human being so something that could damage me wouldn't hurt Deception"

On the kitchens counter the slim black laptop made a light chime like ping.

Jill got up and checked on the laptop, "We have mail"

"Who from?" Carlos asked.

Jill tapped on the keys and clicked the mouse, "I'll tell you in a second" she then scanned the screen and stepped back looking puzzled, "It's from Trent but it doesn't make any sense"

"When does anything Trent sends us make sense?" Carlos remarked. "It could be encrypted"

"No it's just a sentence: Highway eight, ten o'clock, late night transport, Paluma region"

Carlos got up and stared into the screen, "Let me see maybe you're reading it wrong" quickly scanning the email he then turned back to Jill who was standing away from him with her arms crossed. "Maybe it's a mistake," he offered lamely.

Jill then nudged Carlos aside and called up 'the map' "He mentioned the Paluma region but I'm sure there's nothing around that area Umbrella wise"

Alyssa was now confused; she'd been told that this mysterious Mr Trent had an odd habit of sending strange emails but this one took the cake. Even though she was really good at puzzles Alyssa was stumped on this one, it couldn't be a code maybe it was something else.

"Maybe Trent wants us to go to Paluma and found a safe way for us to cross through, I'm sure highway eight is one of the few highways with no checkpoints" Alyssa spoke up. "He wants us to make it there in one piece"

Jill glanced up form the screen towards Alyssa, "That sort of makes sense but why this special transport time?"

Alyssa shrugged, "I'm not sure could it be something random?"

Calling up the Paluma region both Jill and Carlos saw that there was a small complex beyond the mountains surrounding Paluma but it had been shut down a long time ago judging by the weak signal it gave off.

"Nothings random with Trent, I bet it's because he wants something" Carlos said.

"Well the good news is that there is a small facility around Paluma but the bad news is that highway eight is a heavy vehicle route, semi trailers galore and drivers that normally don't care about smaller vehicles like vans" Jill replied.

"So it'll be a fun drive at night then" Carlos remarked.

He only got blank stares back from both Alyssa and Jill as a response.

Deception watched from a distance as the white van was slowly driven around the side of the cabin. Keeping his distance Deception crept slowly towards the group, he only wanted to know what they were doing and if they were going to another testing place.

Nemesis saw the Hunter's approach and growled out a response, he knew that Deception couldn't resist investigating when spying the van.

Alyssa smiled towards the Hunter, "Hello Deception do you want to come too?"

Still keeping his distance Deception eyed Jill and Carlos suspiciously watching as they loaded in the back duffel bags no doubt containing weapons. When hearing Alyssa speak Deception looked up and snorted while clicking his long talon like fingers.

Alyssa then turned back to Nemesis; "I'll take that as Hunter language for yes then"

Nemesis only growled softly back while nodding his head as if to agree with Alyssa.

Jill then approached the small group, "Come on we have to get going the trip up the mountain range is worse in the dark"

Without as much as a grunt or a growl both monsters climbed in the van's back and Alyssa pulled the doors shut.

Climbing in the front Alyssa turned towards Jill, "How do we know that any of what Trent said was true?"

Jill shrugged as Carlos gunned the engine, "We don't but Trent has never led us to a dead end, well actually he has but not without good reason"

"It comes with the job I'm afraid" Carlos replied as he turned the wheel to go out onto the main road. "What happens, happens that's all there is to it"

They had only been out on the long stretch of highway when Carlos noticed that a large semi trailer was quickly hurtling towards them.

"When does highway eight start?" Carlos asked.

"Why do you ask that?" Jill replied.

"Oh nothing really it's just that there's a huge rig about to hit us!"

Both Alyssa and Jill turned to look out of the passenger side window to see the huge white truck almost sitting on the van's bumper.

"What kind of manic is driving that thing?" Jill shouted over the engine of the truck.

"They're in a hurry" Alyssa said with a tone of worry in her voice. "I don't think they care if we're hit or not"

Carlos then gripped the steering wheel hard, "Well I'll show them not to ride on my tail pipe, this van may not be a hot rod but I bet we could out run that truck"

"You're almost as insane as that driver behind us," Jill cried out. "We won't make it"

"Watch me, I've been in worse situations then this" Carlos said winking.

Before Carlos could do anything the white unmarked semi rushed past them with such force that Carlos had trouble controlling the van.

"What a nut case!" Alyssa remarked.

Jill was just glad that the danger had passed, too many times had she seen on the news crashes involving cars and trucks. _Not to mention what we have in the back of the van_ she thought. There was a possibility that Nemesis or Deception might bash their way out of the wreckage and target the truck driver.

Carlos only pretended that the near fatal collision was nothing, "See what did I tell you? No problem"

"Next time we have a semi trailer at the back of us don't try to be a hero Carlos" Jill said sighing. "We have too much to lose of we all end up dead because you want to go all road warrior with a larger truck"

Carlos looked confused, "Don't know what you're talking about I wanted to pull over"

"You know if the cabin space wasn't so restricted I'd slap you" Jill said.

"Bring it on I'd just move out of the way" Carlos said grinning.

Alyssa only shook her head and sighed.

Realizing there was an awkward silence Alyssa reached over and began to fiddle with the radio-tuning knob, "Does this work?"

"I sure hope it does Phil said this van was barely used" Jill answered. "Then again it just could be one of those cheap foreign job radios"

"Hey I happen to come from one of those places that make those cheap foreign radios!" Carlos spoke up sounding upset. "That remark wasn't needed"

Suddenly the radio sputtered to life with a static filled news bulletin.

"There are still no leads to the explosion that occurred a week ago at the Umbrella Cardwell storage facility where a large fireball engulfed a warehouse that manufactured cold insulin. Authorities are now pointing fingers at a rouge squadron of military criminals that have been responsible for the destruction of many complexes owned by Umbrella over in the states" the static voice on the radio said.

Jill switched off the radio and sat back against the seat, "There mustn't be anything else to report on if they have to continually bring up that explosion"

"That's how it is I guess, in a small town something like a shed being blown up will be talked about for months" Carlos said. "At least we have Umbrella scared, they think we're a bunch of dangerous criminals intent on blowing up the entire country"

"And that's exciting to you because?"

Carlos grinned, "At least we aren't simply called rebels or activists now we're criminals"

"I think they mean the same thing" Alyssa spoke up. "That news report makes it sound like Umbrella are so innocent"

"All part of media manipulation Alyssa" Jill replied. "You saw how easy it is to make someone innocent capable of murder"

Alyssa nodded, she knew very well what Jill spoke of, it was during those first few weeks after the escape her face was plastered over the media marking her as a murder suspect.

So deep in thought was Alyssa about this that she barely saw a large white truck on the side of the road out of the window.

Carlos did and craned his neck for a better look, "Wasn't that the truck that almost made road pizza out of us about twenty minutes ago?"

Jill turned around and peered through the window, "Can't tell it's getting too dark"

Alyssa then shouted out as a figure stumbled across the road.

Carlos slammed on the brakes but it was too late, the van's bumper bar knocked the man flying across the road and into the darkness.

All three dashed out of the van and ran towards the victim.

"Shit I didn't even see him!" Carlos cried out. "He stepped right out onto the road"

Alyssa didn't even want to look; she turned away from the twisted body of the man splattered with blood, "Is he?"

Jill walked up to the body and crouched down beside it checking for a pulse, "There's nothing, not even a beat"

By this time Carlos was more concerned with the open road then anything else, "Maybe we should move him Jill so no one sees"

But Jill wasn't listening instead she noticed that the man whoever he was had large slash wounds across his back. They seemed to have been done recently as the blood was still dripping from the open wounds. _Something's not right about this situation_.

Carlos walked up to Jill, "Hey Jill did you hear me? Maybe we should move him in case we're spotted, we haven't been accused of committing murder yet and I really don't think we should start"

A loud bellow caused Jill to look up, "I don't think we're alone"

The roar sounded again though further away from the group, it was the sound of an angry hungry creature, a large hungry angry creature.

As Jill went to stand the 'corpse' grabbed her right leg and let out a groan.

Glancing down Jill saw the face of what used to be a man, due to the collision most of his already soft face had fallen off revealing grey bone underneath, one eye hung loosely from it's socket and as the creature groaned again blood trickled out of it's broken jaw.

Shaking the zombie off Jill backed away suddenly wishing that she'd bought her magnum that was still inside the van. _So not seeing this!_

Carlos saw the zombie trying to stand and attempted to rush forward calling out to Jill but a larger form shot forward growling savagely.

It only took a second for Jill to realize that somehow Nemesis was free from the van and he had identified a threat, the zombie worker.

Both Carlos and Jill watched as the zombie now crawled forward leaving a bloody trail behind it, the creature had sensed a larger food source then Jill.

Nemesis waited until the zombie was close enough then lifting his right booted foot stomped down hard on the head of the rotting corpse.

The body twitched for a few moments before going still.

Again Jill had doubts about the monster that had just stopped her from becoming zombie chow, how easy it was for something like Nemesis to crush the skull of a human being. It was done so casually so calmly like it was something that he did everyday. But that wasn't the only thing that crossed Jill's mind.

Turning away from the smashed remains Jill saw that the van had been opened up and Alyssa was now leaning against it smiling, "Looked like you needed some help"

For a brief second Alyssa reminded Jill of Alice, it was the way she smiled and tilted her head to one side, she then shook the thought off as Carlos appeared beside her and held out her magnum.

Taking the gun from Carlos, Jill checked to see if it was loaded as her mind sought to rectify the situation, "I can't believe it"

"The fact that a zombie almost tried to eat you?"

"No, the fact that I thought I'd never see something like an un dead ghoul ever again" Jill replied as she slipped the magnum into it's holster.

Glancing over at Nemesis he had now made his way back to Alyssa dragging his right foot along the road in an effort to clean the gooey brain matter from his boot.

"That's twice Nemesis has saved you now" Carlos remarked.

Hearing this Jill smiled faintly, "We're a team aren't we? Teams look out for each other"

"So you're going to cut Nemesis some slack and not see him as a monster?"

"Carlos what happened in Racoon will never alter my perception of what is a monster and what isn't, I know it wasn't Nemesis that tried to kill me but that thing in Racoon looked exactly like him, how can I not be a little bit tense whenever Nemesis roars or crushes a skull?" Jill said sighing. "You may have gotten over what happened but I lost too much to that creature, the wounds are still open and even if Nemesis donated his heart to let me live I'd still see him as a monster that's all there is to it"

Carlos only nodded and pointed towards the van, "I better move it off the road, don't want the van to get hit"

Jill watched Carlos go back towards the van gesturing for Alyssa and Nemesis to move out of the road. She was still shaken by the zombie encounter and also what she'd heard in the distance, the cry of some unfamiliar beast. _It doesn't feel right, that body had slash marks on it made by something with large claws and I highly doubt that there's a bear roaming through the surrounding forests_ Jill thought.

After the van was off the road and into the shadows the others walked up towards Jill.

"There's no damage to the van only a bit of blood that'll wash right off" Carlos replied. "But do you think we should move that body from the road now?"

Jill turned towards the group and noticed that they were one member short, "Where's Deception?"

Alyssa pointed down the black stretch of road, "He ran off that way"

"Great! As if this night couldn't get any worse," Jill groaned. "Well we better move that corpse off the road and then look for Deception"

Carlos walked towards the body, "I'm on it" he easily grabbed the body by the feet and slowly pulled it off the road where it wouldn't be spotted.

As the body was being pulled however part of the crushed skull came apart and remained glued to the road.

Seeing this made Jill and Alyssa grimace, it seemed that part of the remains would have to stay put, no way either of them were going to touch the rotted brain tissue.

Carlos stepped back out onto the road and walked calmly towards them, "That wasn't so hard to do, I covered the body with leaves and sticks, so you'd have to have pretty sharp eyes to find where it is, just a shame the body can't be buried properly"

The strange loud cry from the unknown creature suddenly sounded off again making Nemesis growl softly in the back of his throat.

"I think we better find that Hunter fast before whatever it is that's in the bush catches up with us" Jill replied.

There was no argument to what was said.

Deception had heard the roar of the mysterious monster and had immediately gone off to search for it. Not that he wanted to fight it but perhaps there was a testing place hidden in the bushland and the monster had escaped from it.

Instead of finding the creature Deception came across a wall of white, it was an upturned large vehicle and all across the white wall were large slash marks.

Sensing movement Deception quickly spun around with his claws raised. Seeing that it was only a slow moving creature that had the scent of the virus on it Deception turned his attention towards the back of the truck.

Circling the entire vehicle Deception deemed that there was no actual threat from the truck and went to investigate the back.

As the Hunter climbed inside he almost didn't see the torso of another virus scented creature crawl towards him, moaning at the effort.

This time Deception didn't ignore the approach of the creature; slicing downwards his left taloned hand the Hunter easily removed the zombie's head from its bloodied shoulders.

The entire back of the truck now smelt of blood and as Deception glanced around at the interior it reminded him of a testing place.

Glass littered the floor of the truck that was crushed under the tough scaly feet of Deception as he slowly walked down the back. A large broken container was anchored to the wall of the truck, which had the scent of water and something else, a wild animal smell mixed with petrol.

There was also a large stainless steel table that was to the side of the glass tank and medical instruments lay scattered beneath it.

Anger welled up in Deception as he ran one taloned hand across the table, whatever was here had long gone and the vehicle was not a true testing place. Coming with the group had been a complete waste of time as there were no enemies to despatch, the torso zombie not counting.

Hearing footsteps and voices outside Deception crept up along the dark side of the truck's interior. Though when peering out at the 'enemies' did Deception realize that it was only the group of rebels.

Climbing down from the back of the truck caused Jill to look up and point her weapon at Deception. Although confused and angry with Jill, Deception made no motion towards her, it was only when she fired the magnum at something beside the Hunter did Deception snarl threateningly.

Dodging aside Deception could hear the bullet from the magnum whistle past his head and a soft thud as it collided with something.

Turning slightly Deception realized that Jill wasn't aiming the weapon at him she instead had aimed it at the slow moving virus carrier that had been far off when Deception entered the truck.

Jill lowered her weapon as both Carlos and Nemesis stepped towards the back of the truck and got up inside.

"There's something in here other then boxes," Carlos cried out.

Alyssa visibly shivered and glanced around with fear, "We're being watched"

Before Jill could ask Alyssa what she meant the roar from the mysterious monster came only now it was closer and the crier could be seen.

A figure slowly emerged from the darkness and it wasn't human.

The creature appeared relatively human except it had blue skin, clawed feet and a large right hand that had long black talons.

At first the blue skinned Tyrant monster simply stood where it was, flexing it's over sized right hand while softly growling.

The group stared back at the monster waiting for it to move.

Alyssa could hear the Tyrant's heart beating and hear it's breathing, it was angry but also confused.

"Is that what I think it is?" Jill said softly.

Carlos stared back at the creature, "I'm guessing you two have met before?"

"No it's not the same one but I'm guessing this Tyrant thing can do the same damage as the one I fought a long time ago"

Alyssa shook her head and slowly stepped back, "We should go, it doesn't want us here"

Before either Jill or Carlos could answer the blue skinned Tyrant threw back it's head and howled before sprinting towards the group.

Carlos opened fire with his assault rifle as the creature rushed towards them but the monster wasn't interested in the human side of the group.

The Tyrant turned towards Nemesis ignoring it's bleeding chest wounds.

Alyssa shouted out to Nemesis but it was too late the blue skinned Tyrant grabbed Nemesis by the throat and tossed the giant aside like he was a rag doll.

Deception leapt forward roaring and started to slash at the Tyrant's back but he was swatted aside by the large right claw of the creature. It wasn't interested in the smaller green monster it only wanted the black clad creature that was lying on the road.

Jill couldn't believe what she just saw and glancing at Alyssa and Carlos neither could they. She'd seen Nemesis smash through walls and dispatch enemies with his superhuman strength but the way that the blue skinned Tyrant had simply thrown him aside begged to differ. It seems there were other monsters Umbrella had created that were capable of even giving something like Nemesis a good thrashing.

The blue skinned Tyrant resumed its attack slashing downwards towards the grounded Nemesis. Sensing the onslaught Nemesis rolled out of the way and stood up roaring in fury while clenching his fists.

Alyssa took a step forward but was stopped by Jill, "Where are you going?" she asked the girl.

Turning Alyssa was clearly upset which made sense, she'd just seen her overprotective guardian slammed to the ground, "We can't just stand here that thing might kill Nemesis"

"And you think that by going out there will help how? You'd end up like Nemesis or even worse" Jill replied sharply. "Are you willing to risk hurting yourself for something that you can't change?"

Alyssa struggled free of Jill's grip and glared at her, "If I have to then I will, I know you hate Nemesis but he's my friend and I'm not going to let something take him away from me"

Jill was taken aback by what Alyssa said even though she knew the girl spoke the truth, she didn't despise Nemesis she was only cautious of the creature. _Well now's the time to put things straight_ she thought. "Past is past Alyssa I can't change that but I'm not going to let some blue freak hurt a member of this team"

Glancing back towards the two monsters Jill could see that Nemesis wasn't faring too well against the blue skinned Tyrant. It was almost like Nemesis wasn't in sync with his opponent's moves his reactions were slower then the Tyrant creature and this was the reason why he was getting severely beaten.

Deception suddenly sprang from the darkness; he had recovered from the previous attack and rushed forward distracting the Tyrant.

As the Tyrant creature turned towards Deception, Nemesis saw his chance and speared the creature through the throat with one of his tentacle appendances.

Blood erupted from the Tyrant's throat and its howl was reduced to a gurgle yet at the same time it swung it's large taloned claw and hit Deception away and open three large gashes on Nemesis's left side.

The fatal wound didn't seem to affect the Tyrant it only seemed to make it angrier as it turned to face Nemesis who was holding his left side and growling. The Tyrant only grunted and rushed forward again too fast for anyone to see.

Grabbing Nemesis by the throat with it's normal sized hand the Tyrant slammed the giant up against the side of the truck and attempted to roar only succeeding in spraying Nemesis with dark red blood.

As the blue skinned Tyrant raised its large taloned claw to deliver a fatal blow it's right shoulder suddenly exploded.

Releasing Nemesis the Tyrant turned towards the source of pain.

Jill lowered her magnum and glared back at the Tyrant, "Now that I have your attention" she then turned towards Carlos. "Let it rip"

Carlos opened fire on the Tyrant creature with his assault rifle aiming at its throat and chest area, "Take that you ugly son of a bitch!"

The creature stepped back raising its overly sized claw in front of its face as it backed away from the gunfire.

Having recovered from the Tyrant's attack Nemesis came up behind the creature and first kicked the creature in its back then stomped down hard on it's spine with so much force that it snapped, the wet cracking sound loudly audible.

The Tyrant let out a soft whine as it collapsed onto the bitumen road; it's body twitching the large claw clicking against the hard surface.

A heavily bloodied Nemesis then slowly walked past the body of the dead Tyrant and towards the group, his right hand holding the side that had been injured.

Both Jill and Carlos were still amazed at the blue skinned Tyrant's ferocity, if Nemesis had been killed by it they wouldn't have stood a chance.

"Whoa what was that thing?" Carlos asked. "Nothing like I've ever seen"

Jill only dug into her jeans pockets and reloaded her magnum, "Well whatever it is it's dead now"

Alyssa had managed to convince Nemesis to remove his hand from his wounds so she could inspect them. The three large slash marks had cut straight through the black coat Nemesis wore and were very deep. Dark red blood dripped from the wounds but there didn't seem to be anything damaging about them, the skin around the holes had already started to close up.

Carlos glanced towards Nemesis, "Hey amigo how are you doing?"

Nemesis only growled back and then covered his wounds with his hand again.

"Nemesis is already healing" Alyssa remarked. "But it'll take a while for the wounds to close up completely"

By now Deception had limped towards the group still keeping his distance from them.

Hearing a moan Jill looked up, "Looks like there's a few more zombies wandering about"

Carlos only nodded and shouldered his assault rifle, "I guess we better take care of them don't want others to get infected"

Before entering the surrounding bushland Nemesis retrieved his chain gun from the back of the van. He was only able to carry one weapon due to his left side being injured.

Alyssa also took the time to wipe the Tyrant's blood off Nemesis and only succeeded in covering the entire front of the creature with more blood.

Deception had already started for the bushland though didn't express interest in the few remaining zombies that wandered throughout the scrub.

Luckily all the zombies had grouped together and were eating what appeared to be a large pig or scrub turkey. Whatever the corpse was that the zombies were gorging themselves on they were down on their hands and knees with their backs turned from the group.

Carefully Jill approached from the right side her magnum raised trying not to make a sound, she kept her eyes on the four zombies covered in gore and listened to their munching in disgust. Never would Jill have thought she'd have to encounter more virus carriers, but they were unfortunate victims and had to be put down.

Carlos came from the left of the group of zombies; he could see Jill and the others moving in the darkness trying to limit their movements. He still didn't understand why these zombies had come into existence unless it had something to do with that blue skinned Tyrant creature. _That thing must've infected those people with the virus_ he thought. In a way it made sense, the first zombie had large claw marks on it's back and from experience Carlos knew that the creatures that carried the T-virus could infect others by biting and scratching victims.

Yet as the group slowly closed in around the feeding zombies something didn't feel right even when someone accidentally snapped a twig the creatures didn't glance up.

From where he was Carlos glanced at Jill who only nodded and raised her magnum, it was time to clean up.

As both aimed their weapons a zombie dressed in a military uniform looked up from its meal and snarled at the group. It wasn't this new type of behaviour that stunned the group but the fact that the zombie had sharp teeth and the beginnings of claws.

The other three zombies looked up and mirrored their leader; they all slowly rose and turned towards the group of rebels each dripping blood from their mouths and claws.

The army zombie rushed forward towards Jill with such speed she had little time to react, this creature was different from the one that Carlos had knocked flying.

Stepping aside Jill heard the whistle of the zombie's claws whip past her face; she'd been a few inches away from being decapitated.

Carlos had the same trouble narrowly avoiding a lethal swipe from a zombie in a lab coat.

The last two ran towards Alyssa and Nemesis who had remained hidden and undetected until now.

Alyssa could already sense what the creature wearing torn jeans was going to do; it ran towards her, claws extended howling for blood. As the nearest claw arm came down Alyssa easily stopped it, she then twisted it at an angle that it broke, the blood stained arm bone poking out of the paper-thin slimy skin of the creature.

A broken arm didn't stop the zombie; it instead tried to bite Alyssa on the shoulder.

Again it seemed that the zombie Alyssa was fighting moved slower then the others, moving aside she kicked the creature in the chest so that it stumbled back then picking up a heavy branch Alyssa hit the zombie several times in the face until it fell over.

Not wanting to give the creature a chance Alyssa spun the branch around in her hands before aiming the sharpest end down towards the zombie's soft head.

The branch made a soft slopping sound as it entered the decaying skull of the mutant and Alyssa kept a firm grip on the branch until the twitching body became still.

Time then seemed to catch up to Alyssa as she snapped out of her daze, glancing down at the impaled zombie creature puzzled her, she had no recollection of doing such a thing. All Alyssa could remember was dodging aside as the zombie tried to bite her.

Shaking off her thoughts Alyssa turned back towards the group, Jill had managed to shoot one of the zombies in the stomach; Carlos was firing at another zombie repeatedly with little results while Nemesis had just knocked one of the creatures flying into a tree.

A loud roar suddenly filled the scrub and Deception jumped down from out of the darkness and sliced an arm off the zombie Nemesis was fighting.

The remaining intact zombies suddenly turned and glared at the group, if glaring meant standing and staring while snarling and ran off in different directions. The one-armed zombie struggled to keep up with the other two as they disappeared into the shadows.

Nemesis roared after them as though he was annoyed at the fact that the zombie creatures had turned chicken and fled. He went to reach for his chain gun but stopped and clapped a hand over his left wounded side. It seemed that the giant was frustrated that he couldn't pursue the zombies due to his recent injuries.

Jill and Carlos watched the creatures in confusion, if they were mindless zombies why run?

"Well that was a bit weird" Carlos muttered. "I thought zombies weren't too bright on the combat side of things"

"Great, they've gone further in, we have to find those things, whatever they are" Jill said groaning. "There's plenty of rest and camping areas around here I don't think it's hard to imagine what would happen if those things ended up in an area filled with people"

Spying the impaled zombie on the ground Jill first looked at the creature's body then at Alyssa, "At least we stopped one"

Alyssa folded her arms and shook her head, "I didn't do it though"

"Ok then someone who looked like you did it" Carlos remarked. "Does it matter? That thing would've killed you if you let it live"

"That's not the point I was making, what I meant to say was all I remember was moving aside when that thing came at me not…" Alyssa trailed off as fear clouded her face. "I don't remember anything else, especially not stabbing that thing in the head"

Nemesis growled softy in the back of his throat as if to try and emphasise with Alyssa.

Jill broke the uncomfortable silence, "Well we better get going, those things have a good head start on us as it is"

Deception was already ahead of the group, not that it appeared that the Hunter wanted to help the others find the creatures but he'd already injured one and was determined to finish the job.

Walking through the darkened scrub didn't matter to Alyssa; her vision was enhanced thanks to the virus in her veins so she easily spotted the white cement building first.

"There's a house up ahead," she called out.

"A what?" Jill asked. "I don't see anything and we shouldn't stop, those zombies…"

"No I can see it!" Alyssa replied cutting Jill off.

Alyssa suddenly deviated from the group and ran off towards the cement block structure.

The rest had no choice but to follow, in the darkened scrub it was very easy to get lost and the small flashlights that Jill and Carlos carried barely even lit up what was in front of them.

As Alyssa walked up to the walls of the house she rubbed her hand across the moss encrusted structure, "Told you there was a house out here"

Carlos shone his small pocket torch along the 'roof' part of the building, "But why out here? It's a strange place to build a house"

Jill had a different reaction to the latest discovery, she'd noticed that Deception was no longer with the group and time was running out to find the zombie creatures, "I don't know if the two of you have noticed but those zombie things weren't regular citizens that were infected, they had army uniforms and lab coats probably Umbrella's people. I'm guessing that truck was some kind of containment unit for that Tyrant thing and if it didn't reach it's destination most likely before ten o'clock then search groups may be deployed to look for them, I really don't want to be here when they turn up"

But Alyssa wasn't listening she was slowly walking around the cement block with her hand on the smooth white walls.

There wasn't much to the 'house' in fact it was more of a white cube covered in moss, dirt and decaying leaves. It had obviously been hidden in the bushland for a long time judging by the various plant life that grew on the walls and roof.

As Carlos and Nemesis walked away from Jill and began to follow Alyssa it made her frustrated, neither had realized the risk they were taking by exploring this white block structure the claw zombies were getting further away.

"Did everyone just go deaf?" Jill remarked. But she discovered that all three had disappeared around the side of the block.

Going around the left side Jill saw just in time Nemesis grabbing a hold of a very thick padlock and twisting it so it broke in two pieces.

Jill walked up to them briskly waving her arms, "Hey! Whoa, no, no! What do you think you're doing?"

Alyssa looked up at Jill, "We're going inside" then she walked past the thick wooden door into the block.

Nemesis followed after Alyssa lowering his head so that he could fit inside.

As Carlos went to follow Jill grabbed him by the arm, "Do you have to follow suit?"

Carlos grinned, "Hey breaking and entering hasn't been done by us in a while and I don't think anyone can report us, it'll be really quick how big can this place be?"

Jill could only sigh loudly and follow Carlos inside, "Ok five minutes and we're out ok?"

Entering the white cube structure plunged the entire group into darkness; the only sounds were their feet scraping across the cement floor.

Suddenly the entire room was lit up by a dozen bright lights catching both Jill and Carlos off guard.

On the right side stood Alyssa and Nemesis, Alyssa had her hand on a large light switch, "I don't think you can see in the dark"

Glancing around the room Carlos whistled, "There's tons of archive boxes everywhere"

"Funny how something looks a lot smaller on the outside" Jill remarked with a hint of sarcasm in her voice.

"You think this is what Trent ment about us coming here?" Alyssa asked as she rejoined Jill and Carlos.

Jill shrugged, "I don't know, maybe"

Nemesis suddenly roared his cry echoing over the wide expanses of the room causing the group to look up.

"Now what? Have those zombie things followed us?" Jill grumbled.

Alyssa glanced up at Nemesis and grinned, "Even better look what he found"

As all three walked over towards the creature they saw the reason why Nemesis had roared so loudly, he'd called them all over because of something he'd found.

Sitting up against the wall on four pedestals under glass domes were large weapons.

Alyssa walked up to one of the domes and peered inside, "They're weapons"

"I'm guessing they weren't meant for human beings though" Carlos replied.

Jill carefully examined each of the weapons; one was a large combat knife that could have easily passed for a sword. The next was a bigger version of Carlos's assault rifle with a longer chain of bullets attached to it. A box shaped grenade launcher was another, no doubt designed to carry larger versions of the dreaded buckshot loaded grenades and finally there was an updated version of the standard rocket launcher. She'd seen the rocket launcher known as the Stinger only once, the monster that chased her all over Racoon had carried it.

"I'd hate to rain on everyone's parade but these weapons are only models" Jill said.

Alyssa looked even more disappointed then Nemesis, "How can you tell they're fakes?"

Jill tapped the glass containing the Stinger, "They have that plastic shine on all of them, plus I doubt that the real weapons would have such bright buttons"

Nemesis growled softly while still gazing at the models, he'd been so close to getting new weapons, something that would make him more useful to the group and now they were only fakes.

"Tough break amigo, maybe another time huh?" Carlos said to Nemesis.

"Ok we've seen what's down here now I think we should leave before we run into trouble" Jill said. But as she was saying this she was watching Alyssa rip open a cardboard box that was near the models. "I don't think we have time to go through all of these boxes Alyssa we really have to get going, we can come back another time and sort through this stuff"

But Alyssa was off in her own world blocking out Jill's voice, something inside of her had said to open the box whether it was the bad things or not was a different matter.

As Alyssa began to pull out a pile of yellowed paper Jill sighed and turned to Carlos, "I hope you're happy in knowing that those creatures have probably long since vanished and found a civilised area"

Alyssa suddenly stood up and faced the pair gripping a single sheet in her hand, "I think I know why Nemesis was so easily beaten by that blue monster"

"It's quite obvious that Umbrella made stronger monsters then Nemesis, there's nothing special about that Alyssa you really don't have to have be a rocket scientist to figure that out" Jill replied clearly annoyed at the fact no one was taking her seriously.

"What do you have Alyssa?" Carlos asked as he took the piece of paper from her and began to read it.

As Jill glanced at Alyssa she noticed that the girl had the same curious/furious expression on her face when Nemesis had crushed the head of the zombie worker.

Carlos suddenly nudged with his elbow Jill and handed her the paper, "I think you should look at this"

Taking the paper Jill shook her head, "I really don't get it with you two there's nothing that could be put even simpler, other monsters are quite capable of giving something like Nemesis a good…" she was then cut off as a few words from the report jumped out at her.

The report was hand written in spidery hand writing and carried the insignia of a swallowtail butterfly silhouette. It seemed more of a sales pitch then an official report.

_The THX130 combat chip is only in its prototype stages yet it has proven successful in not killing the only subject with a large cranial capacity. Only under certain circumstances will the chip be activated, at the moment it is dormant inside the subject's brain and even after the guinea pig reawakens the chip will remain inactive until it is needed. _

Jill glanced back up towards Alyssa and Carlos who were staring back at her, "I still don't see what the big deal is it mentions some combat chip being stuck in some poor creature's head that's nothing new with Umbrella"

Alyssa pointed at the butterfly insignia, "That's my father's sign, he wrote the report. Did you read it all Jill? Did you see who has the chip?"

Again Jill's eyes flicked across the paper, _We really don't have the time to play riddles and find a words, the things we should be finding should be those zombies not reading old yellowed reports in a white cube filled with plastic…_

The entire paragraph jumped out at Jill like an enraged tiger, reading it made her shiver.

_The only subject that has been able to hold the chip without dying was the Nemesis NE-T pursuer. The creature already possesses strong will power and strength when transported from the European Laboratory Six it is the ideal test subject for the THX130 prototype. Once the chip is fully activated the unit will be able to remember combat moves when preformed by the enemy and be able to counteract them. However the combat chip will remain inactive until the creature has gathered enough 'experience' that will allow the prototype to 'turn on' this is the only draw back in the series but well worth the wait especially in the Nemesis units. _

Lowering the report Jill glanced up towards Nemesis who had his head lowered onto his chest and was leaning against the cement wall resting on one leg on the far side of the room.

"So you saw it too?" Alyssa asked.

"Ok I'll admit it, that combat chip theory sounds plausible in a strict sense, but how do you know it was the Nemesis that's with us? Your father may've meant another one"

Alyssa shook her head while smiling, "My father was only able to make one Nemesis and that's him standing right over there"

Hearing his name mentioned Nemesis raised his head and stared back at the group then continued to lean against the wall.

"I found it hard to believe the whole chip in the head theory too at first, I mean it sounds like something that creep Griffin would want to create" Carlos pointed out. "I guess that combat chip would've been helpful against that Tyrant thing"

"It still sounds too unbelievable for me" Jill replied. "The report said only under special circumstances would it be activated and only after gathering enough experience? Experience in what? Fighting? Killing?"

Alyssa suddenly glanced up towards the opening of the shed and at the same time Nemesis began to growl loudly.

"I don't think we have to worry about those zombies" Alyssa replied not taking her eyes off the doorway.

"Why is that?" Carlos asked.

Alyssa smiled thinly, "They're coming back here"

Deception had continued to chase the zombie creatures long after the others had stopped. There was one of the virus-scented mutants that had caught the Hunter's eye. It was the zombie dressed in the lab coat.

Although much of the creature's actual facial features had rotted away or was covered with blood they were still easily recognised by Deception.

He couldn't remember much about the white-coated creature only that he was the one with a loud voice and was always coughing. Deception knew there was something wrong about this loud creature as he always smiled when the Hunter cried out in pain while painful blood drainage procedures were conducted.

Now the tables had turned and the torturer had become the tortured.

Deception allowed the creatures to slow down and think they had escaped their pursuers. Silently like a ghost Deception circled his prey flexing his taloned hands in anticipation. The creature in the lab coat was going first it was because of him that Deception had turned out different.

The zombies were now sniffing the air like a pack of dogs and breathing heavily, they thought that their pursuers were far behind them but they were wrong.

Waiting for a few moments Deception timed his attack well, he wanted his victims to be surprised and afraid when he exploded out of the darkness screaming.

Unfortunately that was not how the plan panned out, when Deception leapt forward in a feral rage, the creatures scattered. They then tried to surround the Hunter and attack with their long sharp claws.

Sensing the onslaught Deception leapt above them forcing the zombies to crash into each other.

Landing on his two feet Deception turned towards the lab coat zombie, it had to be drawn away from the others first before he could make a kill.

As Deception rushed forward the zombie with the one arm called back to the others in a series of grunts and groans.

The other three turned and ran back the way Deception came calling out to their leader in a chorus of howls and moans as they lopped off into the darkness.

By now Deception was not simply frustrated he was angry! Twice the creature dressed in the lab coat had escaped from him and run into the night, the third time however revenge would be served.

Snarling in hatred Deception began to run after the zombies, his running stride easily outstripping the first two creatures, he was only interested in the lab coat mutant at the moment.

Deception slashed forward with his right taloned hand ripping the blood stained lab coat the zombie wore. Before he could go any further however the creatures ran towards a large white cube like structure.

The Hunter leapt forward and knocked the lab coat creature flying through the doorway.

It landed with a sickening crunch onto the white cement of the cube building.

Deception had no recollection of entering the structure all he wanted was to kill one of the creatures responsible for his creation. He didn't even notice the rebels or hear the roar of Nemesis, the lab coated loud sounding creature had to die.

At first the group was shocked at how quickly the events had unfolded. A few seconds ago the room had been quiet now it was filled with four blood splattered clawed zombies and one very angry Hunter.

"At least we don't have to worry about finding Deception or the zombies now" Carlos remarked as he watched the creatures fight.

The zombies seemed to be confined to one part of the room as they attempted to surround Deception and attack as a group.

Being an intelligent creature however Deception didn't fall for the weak group attacks. He instead seemed more hell bent on slicing into the zombie that was wearing the lab coat.

The other three turned towards Alyssa, Jill and Carlos growling while flexing their now larger claws.

"I think they know we're here," Jill said as she squeezed her magnum.

"They're changing, getting bigger" Alyssa commented. "It's like as though those things are turning into that blue monster"

Jill and Carlos couldn't agree more, the zombie creatures had changed since the last time they saw them. The creatures now had longer claws, larger fangs and what seemed to be the beginnings of large humps on their backs.

_I dread to think what those lumps on their backs will turn into_ Jill thought.

Jill didn't need to wait long, the remaining zombies backs suddenly split open and revealed long tentacle appendances similar to what Nemesis had. The tendrils now formed a waving 'coat' behind the creatures as they blindly searched for something to latch onto.

As the three zombies walked towards the group Carlos and Jill opened fire, but it didn't seem to halt the creature's attack.

The roar of the chain gun filled the room splitting the zombie wearing the camouflage vest in half and also making several nearby boxes explode in a fountain of shredded paper and cardboard.

Behind the creatures stood Nemesis, he seemed to have recovered from his previous injuries and was ready to fight the new threat.

Alyssa dashed forward and avoided a lethal swipe from the one armed zombie; she easily kicked down the other creature behind the one armed mutant with a single fluid motion.

"I was wondering when Nemesis would make an appearance" Carlos replied.

Jill smiled weakly, "Yes, he's infamous for coming to our aid at the right time"

Again the chain gun sounded off in the far corner nailing the zombie Alyssa had knocked down previously up against the wall. When the creature fell back down it didn't get back up again.

The torso that had been cut in half began to creep forwards; it's large veined arms pulling it across the ground with unnatural speed.

Carlos saw it first and shouted out something in Spanish before opening fire with his assault rifle.

The torso zombie then pointed its tentacles up towards the cement roof anchoring itself on there and began to climb towards Jill and Carlos dodging the bullets from both weapons.

"Won't these things die?" Jill shouted over the roars and gunfire.

The remaining zombie copied its partner anchoring itself to the ceiling, but instead of coming towards the group it began to climb towards the open door.

Alyssa saw the creature's movement, "That one's getting away!"

The lab coated zombie was suddenly decapitated by Deception in one quick swipe, as the mutant fell to the ground making a wet splat the Hunter turned towards the torso creature hanging from the ceiling.

Neither Jill nor Carlos saw Deception leap forward and hit the torso zombie down from its perch. It was all a green and brown blur of snarling beast and sharp claws.

The creature fell down in a shower of blood and skin tissue and as it hit the cement spread all over the ground like a thick red chunky blanket.

Turning towards Jill and Carlos, Deception simply stared back at them, he was covered in blood and still snarling but the threat was over, there were no other enemies left to kill.

Nemesis suddenly let out a loud cry and ran across the concrete, his giant steps shaking the foundations. He had seen the last zombie creature escape and Alyssa had followed after it.

Exiting the white cube Nemesis first located Alyssa who was staring out across the scrub listening but he could find no sign of the escaped zombie monster.

Alyssa heard the creature's approach even before Nemesis could, "He's over there!"

Sure enough the zombie creature ran towards the pair it's single claw like arm extended.

Nemesis easily grabbed a hold of the creature's arm and twisted it while roaring at his attacker with rage.

The zombie didn't even cry out as Nemesis broke its arm and instead turned its head towards the giant's arm and bit down hard with its sharp teeth.

Because of the thick leather black arm guards that were a part of the outfit Nemesis wore the zombie didn't even piece the monster's skin, it only left bite marks in the leather.

Alyssa then ran up behind the zombie and grabbing it by the head twisted it at a sharp angle, the wet cracking sound of the neck clearly heard.

As Nemesis let go of the limp body of the creature Jill, Carlos and Deception appeared at the entrance of the cube shed.

Once again Alyssa was confused as to what exactly happened, the zombie that lay on the ground with the broken neck couldn't have been her doing.

Jill noticed Alyssa's confused expression, "What's the matter Alyssa? Did that thing hurt you?"

Alyssa shook her head, "I don't remember anything"

Carlos glanced down at the now dead zombie, "Its neck has been broken"

"Its what happened before I don't remember doing that to the other zombie either but I know that I did" Alyssa said. "What's wrong with me? Why can't I remember?"

"Don't blame yourself Alyssa" Jill said soothingly. "Blame Umbrella, if they hadn't of discovered that virus none of this would be happening"

"If they hadn't discovered the virus I'd be dead and Nemesis and Deception wouldn't exist," Alyssa replied bitterly. "Then again I think I'd rather be in a cold grave then being a virus carrier who can't remember anything"

Again Nemesis growled softly as though trying to empathise with Alyssa even though he clearly couldn't understand the situation.

Jill glanced at Carlos who shrugged his shoulders and adjusted his assault rifle.

"Ok I think we better leave now, there's nothing else we can do here" Jill replied.

Deception suddenly shot off into the darkness, the whole emotional group scene obviously too much to handle.

The others then began to walk back towards the van, not much was said between them only their footsteps crunching over twigs and dried leaves were the only sounds that passed through the group.

Exiting the scrub the brisk night air hit them, the black night sky with stars almost like diamonds twinkling high above.

Alyssa looked up at the sky, "Look at all those stars in the sky there's so many"

Jill quickly glanced at Nemesis who also was staring up at the sky with a degree of awe, the 's' word seemingly having no affect on him.

_Maybe that'll never happen_ Jill thought. _Perhaps Nemesis has no idea what the word stars mean only that they're shiny things in the sky_.

The night sky did seem peaceful after what the entire group had been through but it was not going to stay that way.

A few metres behind them came a familiar angry roar and that was when it appeared and chaos broke loose once again.

Slowly the creature emerged from the shadows in an almost delicate stride, as though it was purposely taking its time to appear from out of the darkness.

The previous injuries that the blue skinned Tyrant had received no longer visible on it's larger muscly body frame. No longer did it resemble a spindly human with an oversize arm it now looked like a blue skinned gorilla with purple shoulder spikes.

The Tyrant's face had also changed now it had a larger mouth filled with big sharp teeth. It's single claw arm seeming stronger then before as it dragged across the bitumen road, the creature stopped near the van and turned to snarl at the group letting out a terrible high pitch scream at the same time. It wanted revenge against the black clad creature for its previous injuries and it was going to get it no matter what.

Seeing the blue Tyrant's sudden appearance caused the group to slowly step back.

"How can that thing still be alive?" Carlos asked. "Nemesis cracked its spine, we all heard it snap and saw that monster die on the road"

Jill checked her magnum rounds only to find the weapon was half empty, "Maybe breaking that creature's back wasn't the right thing to do" she then pulled out two remaining bullets and put them in the magnum. "I only have four rounds left"

Carlos checked on his assault rifle ammo, "I'm better off then you, I'll draw that thing away from us you, Alyssa and Nemesis make a run for the van"

"I'm not leaving you to fight that thing on your own," Jill said. "If you're staying then I'm staying"

"It mutated because it wants to fight Nemesis" Alyssa suddenly replied. She then turned towards Jill. "That blue monster wants revenge because Nemesis hurt it and the virus made that possible"

Carlos flicked the safety switch off the rifle, "Well that's not going to happen right padre?"

Nemesis growled back and squeezed the trigger of his chain gun, not taking his eyes off the approaching Tyrant.

A thump on top of the van's roof made everyone glance towards the sound, including the mutated Tyrant.

There was nothing but darkness that surrounded the van but suddenly apart of it latched onto the Tyrant's normal sized arm and drew blood.

The Tyrant turned its back on the group as it wrestled with the attacking darkness that roared back with hatred. It then took a step back and swung its now heavily bleeding arm hitting the shadow creature into the van's side.

Out of his element and suddenly exposed to his enemy Deception was still reeling from the strength of the blue Tyrant's assault. The Hunter dodged aside as the Tyrant attempted to swipe at him with its oversized claw. The creature only succeeded in opening three large slashes across the van's side creating a shower of sparks as it did this.

Rolling to the ground and avoiding the slash, Deception then raked his taloned claws across the Tyrant's exposed upper torso once again drawing blood.

Seeing the damage to the van Jill grimaced, "That's going to be hard to explain to Phil"

"Deception seems to have the upper hand against that thing" Carlos commented. "Maybe we should back him up with a little fire power"

Alyssa shook her head; "Deception isn't strong enough to fight that monster by himself"

Deception bit down hard on the Tyrant's oversized arm and managed to tear out a large chunk of flesh. This only succeeded in making the monster even angrier; it suddenly dropped down onto the ground hard crushing the Hunter under its massive body.

The Tyrant was first to it's feet and with it's left taloned foot kicked Deception away like he was nothing more then a soccer ball.

This time Deception felt pain; he landed hard on the ground with a slight whimper and didn't get back up. His mind was spinning as it sought to realize what just happened, pain was coursing thorough Deception's body and there was nothing he could do. Pain was something Deception was accustomed to during all those years in the cages at Umbrella but this new pain was different and confused him. From where he landed Deception watched the Tyrant creature roar with pride and began it's slow march towards the group again, this was one enemy that Deception couldn't defeat by himself he knew however one creature that could defeat the Tyrant.

Seeing Deception kicked aside by the Tyrant spurred Nemesis into action, he shrugged off the chain gun, which landed with a dull clunk behind him as he turned towards the creature growling.

The Tyrant took the growls to be a signal to fight, even though it needed no prompting. It turned towards Nemesis and roared back raising its over sized arm.

As the swipe from the arm came Alyssa watched with fear, it appeared that Nemesis was purposely standing still to get hit, she wanted to close her eyes but couldn't.

Suddenly Nemesis dodged aside avoiding the claws altogether, the arm came down and hit the bitumen cracking it in the process.

"That thing missed him," Alyssa said.

"No that Tyrant didn't miss Nemesis, that attack was avoided" Jill replied. "Nemesis moved aside at the last minute"

Again the claw arm came towards Nemesis who only dodged aside again, though his time Nemesis dove forward and punched the Tyrant in the face with his right hand.

The Tyrant fell back, it's face awash with blood, this was something it hadn't expected.

"Whoa Nemesis just hit that monster straight in the face!" Carlos remarked. "Must've picked that one up from me"

"It's like as though Nemesis has suddenly gotten faster like he's…" Jill trailed off.

"Learnt something new?" Alyssa finished. "He's gotten an upgrade, you think it's because of that combat chip?"

"I don't really know Alyssa, I mean it sounds a little far fetched even for Umbrella" Jill said. "Then again I wouldn't put it past them if they created a chip that makes their strongest creations faster and smarter in combat"

The Tyrant roared with frustration and attempted to ram Nemesis with its spiked shoulder, this was easily avoided. As the Tyrant ran past, Nemesis extended his tentacles and they burrowed into the creature's side.

Nemesis then dragged the screaming Tyrant back towards him and threw the larger creature up into the air.

Although Nemesis didn't throw the Tyrant very high when the monster landed on the ground it struggled to get up, clearly suffering damage.

Nemesis only stood his ground and cracked his knuckles while roaring knowing he had the upper hand.

The Tyrant responded by sprinting towards Nemesis, it's large claw arm raised. Reaching Nemesis the Tyrant began to attack in a series of lethal slashes too fast to see. Nemesis only ducked under the attacks then extending the tentacle from his wrist curled it around the Tyrant's right leg and pulled.

The effect was instantaneous; the Tyrant fell flat onto its back still slashing blindly at the air.

As the Tyrant righted itself there was a surprise waiting for it, again Nemesis closed in on the Tyrant delivering several hard blows to the monster's face. This time the punches doing more damage then before resulting in several teeth and blood to splash down onto the road.

The Tyrant continued its slash attack although it seemed all out of focus and completely missed Nemesis altogether.

Nemesis then rolled onto the ground as the Tyrant swung its claw arm forward.

In two massive strides Nemesis was at the chain gun he dropped earlier, picking it up he faced his enemy.

The Tyrant was now blindly stumbling around, blood streaming from its toothless jaw.

Nemesis roared out towards the Tyrant that turned to face it's foe.

As the Tyrant positioned itself for another sprinting attack Nemesis opened fire. The bullets from the chain gun tearing into the skin of the Tyrant, the line of fire continued until it reached the creature's head.

The head of the monster seemed to explode in a fountain of blood and brain matter that rained down onto the black bitumen road.

As the chain gun whirled to a stop and the headless body of the Tyrant crumpled to the ground Nemesis threw back his head and roared victory to the stars. His loud roar echoing the surrounding silent bushland.

All three were stunned into silence, even Alyssa was amazed at the sudden burst of power that Nemesis had. About an hour ago the blue Tyrant monster had almost killed Nemesis and despite the odds with the unnatural resurrection of the creature Nemesis still came out on top.

"So do you believe that combat chip still doesn't exist?" Alyssa asked Jill.

Jill watched as Nemesis first snorted at the Tyrant's corpse then slowly went over to where Deception was, "I don't really know what just happened but all those moves and the speed that Nemesis has, well that's definitely something I haven't seen"

"Haven't seen? That's putting it mildly!" Carlos replied. "It's like Nemesis is a whole new monster"

Again Jill glanced across to see Nemesis helping Deception up from the road gently, allowing the Hunter to stand and walk on his own, "I'll tell you one thing, there is something different about Nemesis, he's violent towards enemies and placid to his allies, he's like a humble giant"

Hearing this Alyssa smiled, "That name suits Nemesis, he's gentle when he wants to be and nasty if there's trouble"

Carlos nudged Jill with his elbow, "A humble giant eh? Told you Nemesis would grow on you"

Jill smiled, "In small ways yes he has but what else is there to say for something that just stopped the thing that wouldn't die?"

"Maybe thanks would be more appropriate" Carlos replied. But the response only received silence from Jill.

All three began to walk back to the damaged van with Nemesis and Deception behind them.

As Alyssa opened up the side door Jill carefully studied the damage, "I think with a few pieces of scrap metal those holes could be easily fixed up"

Alyssa stared out across the darkened bushland, "Is it just me or can anyone else hear helicopters?"

Carlos quickly ran around the side of the van and got into the driver's seat, "I think we better leave just to be on the safe side"

Both Jill and Alyssa nodded and climbed in the passenger's side of the van.

"Looks like that Paluma lab is going to have to wait until another day," Jill said as Carlos started up the engine. "I think we've all had enough excitement from tonight's events"

"Yeah and also I'm a lousy driver when it comes to crossing mountain ranges in the dark" Carlos remarked.

Alyssa simply stared out the window like she always did when going back to the cabin. Jill knew that all the talking in the world wouldn't make Alyssa feel better, something had happened in her mind out in the forest, it had made her do things that couldn't be explained and Alyssa wasn't ready to talk about them just yet.

_Both of them are changing_ Jill thought as she stared out through the windscreen watching the night sky go by. _Alyssa and Nemesis are changing in mind and body; they're becoming more mature, hopefully for the best_.

As the van bounced across the cracked roads on the highway Jill could only hope that the recent changes to both Alyssa and Nemesis wouldn't result in the pair turning into violent unstoppable entities. The last thing either Jill or Carlos wanted was for Alyssa turning out like Alice and Nemesis becoming the destructive monster that could easily kill them both.

_I know that's not going to happen_ Jill thought as she watched the world of darkness go by, _both Carlos and I will make sure that neither will become a puppet of Umbrella, there's something special about those two and I'm going to make sure that Griffin or anybody else never takes them away from us_.

Settling back into the soft foam seats Jill lightly closed her eyes and began to dream and for once the roar of a monster did not sound off.

The silent alarms were triggered the moment the group of rebels had entered the room, as did the hidden cameras up in the rafters of the building.

Had it not been for the small blinking light on the console Griffin would have dismissed it as an electrical fault.

Staring into the small screen brought nothing new to the surface, he knew for a fact that Alyssa and her guardian monster worked with two of the most dangerous members of the rebel group but what happened next made Griffin realize that there was more to the group.

The group was attacked by what appeared to be mutant zombie creatures and as usual the Nemesis unit took care of most of them. But then the camera switched to another angle and there hidden in the corner be heading one of the creatures was a Hunter.

Sitting back in his leather chair Griffin smiled, "So, decided to work with the filth have you?" Now it was all clear to Griffin, he knew that the rebels had assisted in freeing the creatures at the Innisfail labs but when the clean up teams only retrieved five bodies from the fields Griffin knew something was up.

Griffin continued to watch as the Hunter cut down the torso creature hanging from the ceiling and then leaving the room with the rest of the rebels. Pausing the tape that showed the Hunter running across the room Griffin still kept his grin, "The game has changed then, no matter once Phase Two is activated they won't stand a chance regardless if they're intelligent or not"

Sitting in his darkened office Griffin turned off the screen and watched as the image of the running Hunter disappeared. _Won't be long now, soon my greatest creation will be activated that will cleanse the world of the rebels and all disobedient units, all it takes is time and there is plenty of it to go around at the moment_.

The fight continues…

56


End file.
